CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. Feb.21– Cruise Planners is excited to announce key changes, promotions within our organization to solidify an already formidable and talented executive team. Formerly Chief Sales Officer Theresa Scalzitti, who is a 28-year veteran of the travel industry, is now the Chief Operations Officer. She celebrates seven years at Cruise Planners and was recently named the Godmother of Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Traveller. Scalzitti has contributed to the success of Cruise Planners through the development of new marketing programs, strong annual sales growth helping Cruise Planners achieve #18 on the Travel Weekly Power List and oversight of several new programs and tools. Scalzitti will continue to oversee the departments of Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Groups, CPV, Franchise Marketing, PR and Corporate Relations, Business Intelligence, Creative Programs, Special Programs and CARE team for Cruise Planners.
In addition, former SVP of Strategic Development Scott Koepf has also been promoted and will move into the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Koepf is a 38-year industry veteran, CLIA Hall of Fame recipient and has been a valued member of the executive team for 5 years. Koepf has contributed to the success of Cruise Planners through his oversight of their award-winning training programs, events team and franchise sales. Koepf will continue to oversee the departments of Franchise Sales, Training and Events. The C-Suite at Cruise Planners now consists of Michelle Fee – CEO & Founder, Brian Shultz – Chief Information Officer, Theresa Scalzitti – Chief Operating Officer and Scott Koepf – Chief Strategy Officer.
Cruise Planners also welcomed Jeffrey Sherota as Vice President, Operations. Sherota is a 27-year travel industry veteran and spent the past 15 years as a part of the Executive Team at Word Travel Holdings. This new role will be responsible for oversight of Cruise Planners CARE Team, Franchise Marketing and Special Programs. Sherota will report to Theresa Scalzitti, Chief Operations Officer.
“As the travel industry continues to bounce back with incredible fervor, we have been very strategic in hiring experienced industry veterans to ensure Cruise Planners continues to be an industry leading innovator offering our network of advisors the best in training, technology, marketing and support,” said Michelle Fee, CEO and Founder. “We have a powerhouse team both at the executive level and from every team member within Cruise Planners. We are looking forward to a great future of continued innovation and growth.”
Company Background
Cruise Planners was founded in 1994 and is the nation’s largest home-based travel agent franchise network. As a leader in the travel franchise industry, Cruise Planners positions a nation-wide network of 2,500 franchise owners for success by providing innovative marketing programs, proprietary and cutting-edge booking and technology tools, as well as professional development and travel agent training with the industry’s top executives. The company continues to be an industry leader and was named the No.1 travel franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for 18 consecutive years and awarded by Franchise Business Review as “Best-In-Category” for 3 years.
Franchise Business Review also ranked Cruise Planners #3 OVERALL on their list of Top 200 Franchises of 2022. Cruise Planners was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology, has been consistently named as one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by the South Florida Business Journal, is on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, and was recognized as one of the Top Workplaces by the Sun Sentinel.
Visit our website, www.cruiseplanners.com, for more information or to view the complete list of awards and honors. For those interested in becoming a franchise owner, please visit https://www.cruiseplannersfranchise.com/.